Contribute to the blog

Many contributions to the IJEblog are written by the authors of papers published in the IJE. We invite authors writing blog posts about such articles to do so in a way that makes their research accessible to a wider audience.

Blog posts should not just be summaries of published papers, they should also seek to explain to a hypothetical lay reader why the findings of these papers are important. We particularly encourage posts that provide a more sustained contextualisation of research findings, for example, by focusing on their policy implications, providing an overview of a current debate in the field, or tracing the development of a research trend.

We are very happy to consider other contributions as well, as long as they are topical and of interest to our readers. So if you have an idea, please get in touch!

Writing a blog post is different from writing a journal article

The tone and structure are more informal. Feel free to give your opinion or invite comments.

Use examples and case-studies or connect your research to current events to help engage a non-specialist audience.

Get to the point early on, as your readers will often be reading quickly or multitasking.

Your post must be intelligible to the non-specialist. Avoid jargon, keep your sentences short and concise, and use hyperlinks to online resources the reader may find useful.

Avoid making your post overtly promotional.

The post should be around 300-700 words long. If your post exceeds 700 words, consider whether it would work better in a series of installments.

Use multimedia. There’s no reason to limit yourself to text. However, make sure you have the copyright holder’s permission to use any images, figures or videos if you haven’t created them yourself.

A blog post should have a narrative title that relays the message of the post simply and clearly. Try to use less than 140 characters, so that the title can be tweeted.

Blog posts should include a ‘trailer’ paragraph spelling out the key messages in 3-4 lines. This paragraph should simultaneously grab your readers’ attention and reassure them that they will be able to understand the post.

Blog posts should be submitted in an editable format (e.g. as a word document, not a pdf), with single spaces between sentences.

Ensure that you have permission to use any material for which you do not hold the copyright. Make sure all such material has a credit line and provide a hyperlink to the source if available.

Include 3-5 keywords.

Include a short statement about yourself at the end of the post with a link to your institutional webpage and social media accounts if applicable.

We like to include a photograph of the author(s), so please feel free to supply one, or let us know if you are happy for us to use the one from your institutional webpage.

On occasion a blog post may be rejected, although the Blog Editor will often work with an author to improve a piece. However, the editor makes the final decision about what material is appropriate or inappropriate for the blog.

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